


darling, call me supernova

by ravencall



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) Fusion, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Awkward Mark Lee (NCT), Blood and Violence, Childhood Friends, Cyberpunk, Earth 825, Field Trip, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Pining, Secret Identity, Spiderman!Mark, Street Racer!Haechan, fall in love, markhyuck save the city, meet their childhood idols, not necessarily in that order
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29173635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravencall/pseuds/ravencall
Summary: Alright, let's start from the beginning one last time.My name is Mark Lee. I was bitten by a radioactive spider, and for the last year I've been the one and only Spiderman. I'll bet you know the rest. Discovered my best friend has one of the heftiest bounties in all of Seoul. Saved said best friend. Failed to save my uncle, so now I try to save everyone else. Jeno says I'll give him grey hairs but what's a box of dye to the lives of innocents?Oh, I also fell in love with one of my childhood friends. It's a work in progress. You'd think it's a pretty boring life, huh? Except, one day, this weird thing happened.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34





	1. Sincerely, Earth 825

**Author's Note:**

> lo and behold, i'm alive and posting another fic. i've been wanting to write this for ages because mark keeps giving me reasons to suspect that he is, in fact, our earth's spiderman. rhy had been the one to goad me into finally writing this and a lovely thanks to my favorite beta astra
> 
> disclaimers: 
> 
> 1\. the science and technology aspects of this fic are made-up as with most of the aspects of this earth i've created. if you've seen spiderverse there are various universes and each earth has a designated number. this earth is designed and created by me and i decided that anything goes so suspend your disbelief for me. 
> 
> 2\. i've kept most of the important aspects of spiderman in my portrayal of him in this fic, but the side-characters are free to be interpreted. jeno leeds? mary jane hyuck? who knows, i don't. 
> 
> i'll be including a glossary for terminologies used at the end notes so check that out first if you would like to! but why listen to me ramble, welcome to earth 825.

**I THINK SPIDERMAN IS MY CLASSMATE CONSPIRACY THEORY #17**

_Now, he wasn't an anomaly of any sorts. He didn't warrant the unnecessary jabs of other students and the ire of the teachers, but there were few people in Seoul nowadays that didn't have a hidden alter ego. Like anyone else, I saw him as someone trying to get by in a dying world, maybe hoping he'd do something about it. But perhaps what first aroused my suspicion was his affinity for the colors red and blue. Blue ink smudged on fingertips, a worn red backpack, a Lego keychain of Superman, and a stretchy reflective blue and red fabric hanging from the unzipped corner of his bag._

– Huang Renjun, Hell's Library Blog

* * *

Donghyuck poked his tongue against his cheek, scrolling mindlessly through his best friend's blog.

Its latest psychobabble article had garnered ten upvotes and twice as many comments since he'd last refreshed the page. An amused smile found its way onto his lips. Renjun's recent fixation on the masked vigilante terrorizing their newsletters came as no surprise, but Donghyuck found that this was too much of a stretch even for him. 

He locked his phone and looked up. His head cocked to the side, watching Lee Jeno masterfully manipulate his maglev wand, and considered the fact that the answer could be right here. Bursting Renjun's bubble was a source of joy that some would find sadistic of him. 

He argued it could be masochism, as he was still the one dealing with the aftermath of Renjun's moping when his conspiracy theories fell through. 

"At this rate, I'll have to code my account number into your bike." Jeno said, raising his pyro-technic goggles from his eyes, with a smile. 

Donghyuck scoffed. "I'll get you your precious crowns. It's only a week 'til Neo Paravel." 

"With how long your tab is, I should blacklist you from my client list." 

"You won't."

He said it with such certainty that made Jeno roll his eyes and get back to work. The sun was beginning to set in the Wastes, painting the sky in deep indigos and honeypot oranges and yellows. The shadows formed by the hills of tech waste that made home in the widespanse junkyard casted looming figures threatening to swallow them whole. 

It was the perfect maze of forgotten innovations that made the Wastes what it was today. Donghyuck stood from his perch on a crate to wander inside Jeno's bunker. The long black rectangular trailer car was an older model of the maglev trains that now ran through the cities. Its exterior was a reflective galaxy purple glass, glinting techno blue in the light. 

Jeno had revamped most of it to suit his tastes, including the overhang out front where he did bigger repairs such as bikes and cars. The driver's seat had been turned into a hacker's den, with the windshield replaced by a JungTech flexible digital screen to accommodate the various floating windows that displayed the insides of Jeno's mind. To no surprise, one of the windows was playing a street race in Nuoyi territory. 

Donghyuck grabbed two sodas from the mini fridge. A small screen on top reviewed the choice in drinks, recognizing him from face recognition coding, and updated a grocery list of items for Jeno to buy next time on a hovering holoscreen above it. 

**Lee Donghyuck**  
Peach Soda _+1_  
Powerade _+1_

He dismissed the hologram with a chuckle. It was testament to how often Donghyuck was here that most of Jeno's smart tech could recognize him. 

"Side piece isn't here today?" Donghyuck tossed Jeno the Powerade. 

Jeno snorted, having replaced Donghyuck on the crate. "He's been roped into helping Ten out on a shoot." His hair had been dyed recently into a trendy cyan shade, it flopped over his goggles, making him look ten percent the comical mad scientist he dressed as for Halloween and the rest percent the illegal tech trader he actually was. 

"Too bad. He has better jokes than you but I suppose everyone's busy on a Friday," Donghyuck shrugged. His soda opened with a satisfying pop and he savored the refreshing sweet drink. 

Jeno capped his energy drink, opting not to say anything in response. Interesting, Donghyuck mused to himself.

Not that the mechanic was particularly talkative, Jeno had never been one for endless streams of chatter, not when his every action mosaiced his intentions for him. It was tricky, figuring out whether Jeno was silent out of letting his company fill in the gaps or in avoidance of lying. Even more so when Jeno met his gaze, as if knowing exactly what Donghyuck was trying to deduce, his own eyes glinting with a hint of mischief. 

“Are you done then? You know blazers get antsy, can’t be in one place too long.” Donghyuck walked over to his bike and placed a tender hand on the seat. Alongside being antsy, any blazer was attached to their bike like it was their firstborn. 

“She’s perfect,” Jeno deadpanned. He tugged off his gloves and tossed them onto the metal work table next to him. “Your engine should be fine now, no more hitches from the chromium conductors and the magnets have been replaced to help your hover glide smoother when you change gears. Just try to take it easy on your axis wheel.” 

Donghyuck’s grin turned wolfish. “Flash.” 

“Seventy-five crowns.” 

“Since when are you on a price hike?” He scowled. That was easily five crowns higher than his usual for repairs. 

“Since you started grinding your axis wheel like it’s made of rubber not reinforced uvolian plates.” Jeno muttered and held up a hand as his phone started ringing. Donghyuck tried not to tell him he had no idea what properties uvolian metal had beyond the basics they’d covered in Chemistry with Mr. Lin. He was already five crowns too heavy on Jeno’s patience. 

“Where are you?” 

Donghyuck leaned against his bike, feigning disinterest. 

A soft whir purred in his left ear, followed by two clicks, both familiar signs of his sensory enhancement synapse adjusting to broaden his hearing range. As a child, he often got in trouble for eavesdropping on other people’s conversations, his lack of understanding on how to manage the new cybernetic enhancement placed in his head proving to be a fickle reason. 

_It’s your body still, isn’t it?_

He remembered their distasteful glares with bitter scorn. Jeno’s voice came clearer then.

“Your suit what?” Through his disbelief, Jeno stifled a laugh. “I’m just finishing up with Hyuck. I’ll call you back in a second.” 

Though he couldn’t hear Mark on the other line, he could picture him fumbling around on set of a photoshoot in a suit and tie, looking out of place in the bright colors of Seoul fashion’s latest streetwear. There was little Ten couldn't cajole anyone to do for him and his nephew was unfortunately not immune to it either.

“Twenty-four hours after Neo Paravel. Pay your entire tab or you’re off my client list.” Any amusement he had from Mark was gone. Jeno raised a brow at him, daring him to say no.

“Heard you loud and clear.” Donghyuck mock saluted him, straddling his bike. With a wave of his hand the control screen lit up and the gear shifted into drive. He eased the bike out from under the overhanging roof that covered Jeno’s outdoor workspace then shifted gears again to activate the axis wheel. 

Mechanical tics and smooth shifts of the pipe exhausts released a hidden mechanism that marked one of the first innovations of maglev power source. It extended from underneath in small nanotech bits until the entire wheel of reflective uvolian encased the bike. The edges glowed a familiar color of maglev blue. The bike hovered steadily, the difference slight but satisfying. 

Jeno's handiwork was no small thing to pass up. There was no way he was losing his spot on his clientele.

Her engine revved deliciously. 

The visor of his helmet lifted for a moment. “Thanks, glitch.” He nodded at Jeno and stepped on the gas. 

He didn't realize his ear hadn’t recaliberated back to normal hearing range until he heard Jeno’s heavy sigh, faintly over the roar of his engine, “Fucking blazers.” 

Donghyuck’s laugh painted the wind in warm jovial hues. 

Days were always a chore for Donghyuck. He absently doodled on the corner of his notes, barely listening to Mr. Lin's voice droning on about balancing chemical equations with the new additions to the periodic table. The lab tables were clear of things to tinker with as it was a lecture day and Donghyuck was incredibly bored. 

That of which was in complete contrast to the ball of energy buzzing like a charged proton next to him. Yangyang's knee bounced up and down in an anxiety inducing pace as he jotted down scribbled notes, arrows crossing over each other and margins filled with musings. From his side, Donghyuck could see a note about picking up his brother's yearbook from the office after class.

Yangyang was the first glitch Donghyuck had ever come across. It was sophomore year when he'd walked in on Donghyuck, trying and failing to borrow (read: steal) some equipment from their school's tech labs to fix his bike. He was fairly new to the street race scene then and had busted his front wheel after diving headfirst into a race.

"Are you coming next Friday?" Donghyuck said, out of need to ease his restlessness before it bleeded onto him. They were a dangerous combination. 

"I wish," Yangyang muttered, still scribbling. "The pigs raided the Nest last night." 

"Don't they do that every month?" Donghyuck snorted.

"Yeah, but they've been sporting an even bigger stick up their ass since that Spiderman guy hit the news." 

_That_ piqued his interest. 

"Why's that?"

"The pigs think we're covering for him or something," Yangyang shrugged. 

"I was at the Wastes yesterday. Didn't even run into one patrol." He had cruised right out of the junkyard without trouble. Renjun's coding hadn't picked up a wave from the taggers the police often used to try and identify blazers or glitches. It was almost too good to be true, but Donghyuck didn't want to jinx it. 

Mr. Lin tapped at the board with his marker. He peered over his wire framed glasses at a group of girls chattering in the corner of the room. "Attention please. This will be on your midterm exam."

"I'm still betrayed you dropped me for a glitch at the Wastes." Yangyang huffed, but there was no malice to it. Afterall, he was the one who sent him to Jeno after his bike was totaled. 

Yangyang was only a mechanic out of necessity. His real domain was chemical weaponry. 

Nothing big, he swore. He wouldn't be doing work for people who used his concoctions to harm the innocent. His clientele were sometimes scientists and doctors that used illegal mixtures often in cyborg enhancements.

"You said it yourself, Zero's the best." He said, referring to Jeno's pseudonym. 

"Well, it's only a matter of time before the pigs start snooping around there too. He should try laying low for a while." 

Donghyuck thought back to Renjun's latest conspiracy. He made a reminder to drop the glitch a note later. 

The bell rang after a few more agonizing minutes. He'd nearly swatted Yangyang's hand flat when he'd switched to incessantly tapping with his pen on their shared table. He packed his bag and swept out of the room just as Mr. Lin reminded them about returning their reply slips for the field trip. 

He'd gone on more interesting excursions on his bike than the itinerary for this weekend's field trip but he didn't have much choice on the matter. His mother had taken one look at the proud Jung Corporation typed in bold on top of the list and signed immediately. She'd even threatened to kick him out if he came home without an autograph from Jung Jaehyun himself.

In his humble opinion, Jung Doyoung was the far more interesting prospect between the nation's power couple, but he was of the minority. His own best friend was too smitten by Jung Jaehyun's dimpled smile to care much of the actual mastermind behind managing the biggest maglev power plants. 

Donghyuck ambled through the halls, nodding at an occasional call of his name, and wished he were on the road instead. The halls were too loud. Sometimes when large spaces held too much noise, his left ear would have trouble discerning which to focus on– recalibrating to hear something from ten feet away rather than the ordinary human hearing distance. 

Thankfully, the chatter was at a minimum today, Mr. Lin's having dismissed them right on time for once. 

He headed for the newsroom.

"Good morning, Neo High School. This is your friend, classmate, and confidant Lee Donghyuck bringing you today's school announcements." He burst through the door with a flourish, startling the poor freshman sitting in one of the computer desks. To his right, a figure emerged from the EIC's office, looking unamused. 

"We fired you ages ago." Renjun strolled past him. He cradled a tablet against his torso with multiple hologram windows hovering around his figure. 

"Need I remind you, I quit. Resigned. Voluntarily left." Donghyuck said, indignant. After realizing his commitments as the school newscaster was interfering with his racing, he'd cut loose of the club, much to Renjun's dismay.

He shadowed his best friend's steps and sat in the empty desk next to his. 

The school newspaper's office was unfortunately married to the broadcasting club, which resulted in the disarray of equipment and papers in the rectangular room. Two rows of desks occupied the middle aisle, one side held computers and the others a mish mash of whichever club member. 

A holoscreen was hung against a wall with various reminders and ideas flashing in a bright translucent blue. By the windows that see out into the hall, multiple smaller holoscreens and AR projections were on display about upcoming school events and current local news. A crate was tucked under the desk he was currently sat at filled with microphones, comm links, and wireless speakers. 

On all of the gadgets hung about, he could spot the JungTech logo marking it. 

"Not training today?" Renjun raised a brow in inquiry. 

"Later," Donghyuck rolled his eyes. "I heard some stuff from Yangyang."

"The raid?" 

"Apparently, they're hosting Spiderman in there for party tricks." He scoffed. The wheels of his chair squeak as he reclined, his shoulders ease of its tension. 

Renjun clucked his tongue, turning back to his tablet. "Not true. Spiderman was spotted in Nuoyi territory last night." He drew his fingers over the screen and threw them up. A holoscreen followed his gesture, opening up among the others, and displayed a shaky clip of a figure in red and blue swinging above a din of pandemonium. "It was at a race."

"What's he doing there? Is he shutting down street races now?" Donghyuck squinted at the horribly taken video but wasn't able to make out much from the quality.

"They said he was after one of the mechanics." Renjun swiped right and the mugshot of an older man with long silver white hair appeared on screen. He looked familiar but Donghyuck wasn't deep enough in the network of glitches to know whether he had a bounty or he was a mere commissioned mechanic. 

"And what do you make of this, Hell's Librarian?" 

The following silence wasn't comforting. Donghyuck sat up, peering at the other's face. 

After a long moment, Renjun spoke, "Do you remember conspiracy eight?"

"Killian?" 

"I think they're back."

Donghyuck whistled. "That's a tall accusation for someone your height." 

"Asshole." Renjun hissed and made a point to turn his back on him, twisting in his chair to get back to work. He glared in annoyance when Donghyuck only took this as an invitation to scoot closer.

"The government took that organization out from the inside. We all saw how they rooted it out until every prominent member was plastered on the news," Donghyuck reasoned because he always did. Lest his best friend get carried away and land himself into trouble.

"Every prominent member. What about their lackeys? They all dispersed when hell broke loose at their hideout." Renjun countered. 

He mused for a moment, looking up thoughtfully. "You think that's why they've been keeping an eye on the Nest?" 

The Nest had been the home of the criminal organization that had risen up to rebel against the stronghold of Jung Corporation. Killian had vandalized every holoscreen, newsletter, even some of the artificial intelligences made by the conglomerate to advertise their ideals. They loathed the cost of the advancement the Jungs had spearheaded. 

It was a dangerous time in Seoul. Many people questioned Jung Corporation's integrity, some hosting uprisings of their own. They questioned whether it would be only a matter of time before the Jungs started making mindless cyborgs out of them. 

That was more than a decade ago. Around the same time Donghyuck and his dad had gotten into an accident that took the hearing from his left ear. 

"You really think they're back?"

Renjun tensed at the soft tone in his voice. There was no fear in it, however, but rather a melancholic eeriness that Donghyuck associated with that nightmare years ago.

Today, the Nest served as one of the hubs for illegal trade. On the surface it was like any other market that had taken root in the poorer sectors of society. Citizens finding their own way to survive in the steep disparity between rich and impoverished, but underneath tables and in between wares was something not necessarily sinister– just likely enough to warrant an interrogation. 

"I could be wrong. Aren't I most times?" He joked, shoving Donghyuck's shoulder lightly.

"Not really." 

"It's just a the–"

The door hinges screeched as it opened. 

Mark Lee walked into the office, hands waving about in excited gestures, constantly looking over his shoulder to see if his best friend was following. He headed straight for one of the computers, plopping down with little grace and disturbing some piece of equipment. The following loud clang of metal made them all cringe. 

Jeno waved politely at them, even greeting the freshman who's name Donghyuck only just remembered as Park Jisung. "Slow down, I only had one cup of coffee today." He laughed, placing a hand on Mark's nape. 

Mark and Jeno had been attached to the hip for as long as Donghyuck could remember. From playgrounds to awkward middle school gym class, up until this very moment where they both stood in stark contrast with their childhood selves. 

In the glitch network, Jeno– Zero was practically living lore at this point, but in Neo High he was just like any other guy. Though admittedly, strikingly handsome but incredibly dorky. 

However, when it came to Mark. . .

" _Makgeolli_ , where were you last night?" Donghyuck leaned over the divider, grinning. 

Mark's head snapped up. "What do you mean?" 

"I mean what shoot did Ten-hyung drag you to now?" Donghyuck noted his eyes. They were bright as fireflies and wide with something child-like, almost akin to wonder. 

An inevitable gravitational pull had long established itself in Mark Lee and Donghyuck was the unfortunate planet to have been ensnared in its orbit. He couldn't fathom for the life of him why that was. Maybe he loved the way he'd fluster a shade of rosy red, like a sunset, when he teased him. Or perhaps he missed the sound of his laugh that twinkled, like stars in a deep midnight blue, when it wasn't directed at him. 

There was never any time to acknowledge what this all meant because– well, he didn't know the answer to that either. He could be content to lazily stare from afar, circling around a boy whose eyes mirrored constellations. 

"Oh, that," Mark rubbed the back of his head. Behind him, Jeno was sporting an shiteating grin. "Just some posh thing uptown. Ballgowns and stuff." 

"Tell me, am I gonna find a suited up Mark Lee over in Valentine territory?" He drawled teasingly. 

"Suited up?" Mark's pitch raised by several octaves. 

Oh, he hadn't meant to mention that. Even Jeno looked surprised by his question. 

He waved a hand dismissively. “I heard from Yeri you’re quitting Decathlon. What’s that about?" If they had a problem with the sudden switch in topic they didn’t voice it. Mark’s shoulders relaxed and he shared a meaningful look with Jeno. 

“Just busy.” 

“Quitting now and admitting I’m the better competitor?” Donghyuck smirked. Their long running competition between who brought more medals from academic competitions was a large blow to each of their prides every year. It started when Mark had made an off-handed comment about the debate team when he’d failed to make it freshman year but Donghyuck did. Since then, Donghyuck made a point to parade around the school after competitions with his medals hung on his neck. 

To him, Mark’s exasperated smile when he spotted him coming down the hall was better than gold. 

“Nah, I’m just bored winning over you all the time.” Mark grinned. 

It was a sore two to one. Donghyuck scoffed while his best friend, supposed sidekick and ride-or-die, snickered beside him. "Whatever. I'm still telling everyone you chickened out while you were ahead." 

An annoyed furrow marked his brows, but he merely huffed a laugh, turning away to begin on whatever he came here for. If Donghyuck hadn't known him for as long as he did, he wouldn't have thought that there was a forlorn hint of disappointment on his face then. The expression didn't make sense whatsoever, so for the time being, Donghyuck discarded it. 

But even as he eased back into his seat and listened to Renjun's complaining, his gaze strayed back to the boy across the aisle. 

"No way," Renjun breathed.

"What is it?"

Too eager to pull up a window, Renjun shoved the tablet onto his lap. Donghyuck held it up, the screen rotating itself upright, and saw Hell's Library on the screen. It was opened to the Spiderman conspiracy. 

Below the article was a five digit number that marked the number of reblogs. Donghyuck's eyes widened.

Hell's Library was popular among their campus, though no one knew who actually ran it, but the audience that the Spiderman conspiracy had garnered came from all over. He scrolled through the comments, finding links to several other conspiracies of who the masked vigilante is. 

Ever since Spiderman made himself known to the scene, there was no one who wasn't curious to know who the man under the mask was. As he continued to read along, he realized that Hell's Library had been looped into the fanatic network that followed the masked vigilante. But what was notable, if not the whole point of Renjun's excitement, was a comment from an anonymous user plugging an organization called _I Am Spiderman._

"Press it." Renjun urged him. 

He did.

The site opened up to a forum-like set up where various members would gather together and wear handmade Spiderman masks and provide aid to the poorer sectors of society. One of the posts was a preface note on Renjun's article, stating that the idea that anyone could be under that mask whether some random student in a public school or an old money businessman was the whole point of Spiderman. 

"You think he knows about this?" Renjun's eyes were twinkling with excitement. 

"Spiderman?" 

"Who?" Mark had perked up at the mention of the superhero, blinking curiously at them. 

"You don't know Spiderman?" Renjun asked, skeptically. 

"I don't _know_ him. I know _of_ him." 

Renjun glared at him. 

Mark winced, apologizing quickly. "I just overheard you guys and got curious."

"It's rude to eavesdrop." Donghyuck said flatly. The irony couldn't be mistaken for anything else, though the weight of his words were lost to Mark as he didn't know how many times Donghyuck had heard the line himself. He apologized again, ducking his head back into his work. 

He wasn't getting away that easy.

"Spiderman's gathering a following, didn't you hear? Fanatics are going out in the mask and helping people." Donghyuck pulled up a window, flicking his wrist up so that it hovered in the space between the aisle in a large hologram.

His expression dropped into worry. Mark's agitation was palpable.

Various conclusions flitted through Donghyuck's mind. 

"I get what they're doing but isn't that dangerous?" Jeno spoke up, reading through the headlines in contemplation. 

"Does that mean they shouldn't help out then?" Renjun challenged. 

Here we go, Donghyuck thought. Half of him was proud of Renjun's headstrong attitude in times like this, but the other half worried for the ignorant soul that induced it in the first place. 

"The police are putting a bounty on Spiderman's head and it's getting higher by the week. Some people are saying the Jungs may be behind it." Jeno said thoughtfully. Mark had lapsed into silence next to him, head bent low to his own phone. He glanced at his best friend before continuing, "Gatherings like this could be mistaken as uprisings against the government and could put lots of people under careful watches, especially in those sectors they're trying to help in the first place."

It began with the Nest. 

The Nest that supposedly was hosting Spiderman. Donghyuck leaned forward as he listened to Jeno's reasoning, putting the pieces together. His mind latched onto Renjun's suggestion of Killian's return. 

"The government will stop at nothing to prevent another incident like… you know." Jeno finished. 

Renjun's passion had simmered down into acquiescence. He looked up at the hologram with new eyes. 

"What do you think of him?" Mark picked up his head and met Donghyuck's stare.

"Me?" He asked, surprised. 

Donghyuck had known Mark since they were five. He'd sat quietly on the steps of the apartment building across his house, playing with Jeno's toy cars. Donghyuck knew because Jeno never let him borrow those. He'd stomped right up to the small kid and demanded he return the cars he _stole_. 

Mark squinted up at him, clutching a red sports car close to his chest. "Jeno let me borrow these while he went to the dentist." 

Donghyuck hadn't believed him. 

They argued back and forth on those steps until Mark had been red in the face, heavy tears clinging to the corners of his eyes. Donghyuck had known Mark wasn't made for debate for a long time. He held all of the cars to him, no matter how many times Donghyuck tried to grab them. 

Ten had stumbled out then, a pillow mark on his face and bags under his eyes. He looked just as teary as Mark did. He crumpled to his knees in relief when he spotted the boy. "Don't do that! Don't ever leave like that, okay?" He clutched Mark to him in sorrow. 

Only years later did Donghyuck understand the reason for Ten's turmoil. The passing of his sister and her husband, the sudden custody of a child in his early twenties, the eviction notice taped to their front door.

Ten wiped his eyes and looked past Mark's small frame, "Who's this? Did you make a friend?" 

Mark had looked over at him, cheeks wet and eyes so incredibly tired for someone so young. He offered one of the cars to Donghyuck. 

"Yeah. He's my friend."

Since then, Donghyuck worked to understand the boy dropped from the sky onto their neighborhood street. He'd read Mark like he was the only book worth reading in a world slowly losing pages to glimmering holograms. 

Now, Mark's expression was unreadable. 

"I think," He licked his lips, mouth suddenly dry. "He's one of the best of us."

Mark bowed his head. "I think so too." 

Renjun dismissed the hologram. They all lapsed into a silence that was neither uncomfortable nor empty, it held its breath, waiting for one of them to break it. In the end, it’s none of them. The chorus of a rock band’s song blared from the desk Jisung was occupying. The freshman jumped, his wireless earbuds falling out, and scrambled for his phone. He muttered to himself and turned off the ringer, glancing up at them with a sheepish smile. 

“It’s fine, Jisung.” Jeno took pity on the kid and bent to pick up his earbuds from where they’d fallen. He handed them back to the younger and ruffled his hair. Jisung’s cheeks flushed and his lips jutted into a pout as he thanked Jeno. 

Jisung fumbled with his phone and put it to his ear. “Chenle, don’t you have band practice right now?” 

Donghyuck pulled out his own phone. He needed something to distract himself and social media was his best bet. A soft spring green filled his screen as he waited for it to load.

“What do you mean? A fire? Where?” Jisung’s face scrunched up in confusion. 

Was he truly content to circle Mark’s orbit? 

Another clatter sounded and Donghyuck looked up to see Mark shouldering his worn red backpack. He squeezed Jeno’s shoulder in a wordless goodbye. Jeno opened his mouth to say something but Mark was already hurrying out the door, too distracted by whatever had him getting up in the first place. He was gone with the soft click of the office door following him out. 

Jeno sighed and picked up his own things, racing after him in long strides. Again, the door closed with a click. 

“They’re so weird.” Renjun shook his head, still staring at the door. He cracked his knuckles and pulled up the articles he needed to edit. 

Later, when Donghyuck and Renjun were the only people left, they cleaned up the office little by little. Not everything because that feat would be damn near impossible to do before a teacher came knocking to remind them of curfew. Renjun stacked crates into the corner, keeping them from being obstacle course hurdles in the aisles. Donghyuck shelved files upon Renjun’s instructions. 

“You owe me lunch for making me do this, by the way.” 

“Shut up, Hyuck.” 

He pushed in the chairs under the desk one by one, after making sure the computers were properly shut down. Pausing as he felt the wheels of the chair run over something, he bent down. 

A rectangular lead cartridge was left under the desk. Though quite larger than most he'd seen Renjun own. 

However, as he brought it to the light, the cartridge wasn’t filled with lead at all. White viscous fluid was inside the plastic casing. Both ends of it were sealed with red rectangular caps that Donghyuck couldn’t pull open no matter how hard he tried. He gave up and went back to the task at hand. 

The computer hadn’t been shut down. It was abandoned displaying an article about last week’s city ordinance addressing hoverboard traffic in electrofield streets. With a start, Donghyuck realized this was the desk Mark was occupying earlier. He opened his palm where the mysterious cartridge was still held.

He disagreed. 

Mark Lee was an anomaly, and Donghyuck was no longer going to sit around and spectate his oddities from afar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **glitch** \- mechanics, technicians, hackers, and scientists that sell illegal wares, services, and information on the dark web and/or black market
> 
>  **blazer** \- street racer, encompasses both cars and bikes
> 
>  **maglev** \- breakthrough power source on Earth 825, used in almost every technological innovation available
> 
>  **crown** \- digital currency, managed and accounted by Qian Bank
> 
> thank you for reading! i would love to hear you guys' thoughts on the first chapter. drop by my [twt](https://twitter.com/jenosfae) and let's be friends.


	2. Empires of Glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I didn't want you to see who I'd become," Donghyuck stood so close Mark could map the moles on his cheek to his neck. He silenced the urge to touch him, stamped on its taunting flames until it fizzled into ash. 
> 
> "I would have looked at you the same."
> 
> "So would I."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're a big spidey fic reader, then yes the loved and dreaded fieldtrip fic is here. i have decided to surprise both you guys and myself by posting this monster of a chapter way earlier than i thought i would. this whole writing as i go along is still so different for me but i'm actually having so much fun and feel less pressured writing it. earth 825 is such an interesting world and i'm definitely considering writing companion fics for minor characters later on so tell me who you're most curious about! 
> 
> disclaimers:
> 
> 1\. i'm not the biggest fan of physics so if there are inaccuracies in the physics of building structures i do apologize and just hope that it all still makes sense. just trust me, guys. 
> 
> tw: bullying, canon typical gore & violence, mentions of surgery, and bombings/explosions

**A KINGDOM AWAITS YOU**

_All participating blazers have been screened for qualification in this year's Neo Paravel. Blazers listed below must confirm their participation and register their tokens by the eve of the Joust. Both blazers representing specific families and independent blazers are expected to abide by all the terms and conditions, to be digitally signed by your token registry._

_Hear ye, hear ye! This year's Neo Paravel welcomes our valiant competitors._

_6\. FULLSUN - SOLO_

– Neo Paravel Announcement Board, 00:15 until website address is refreshed

* * *

Mark awoke to a dull ache from his left flank. He groaned at the incessant beeping coming from overhead, the insistent noise echoing throughout the lab. 

The rectangular trailer car was far from the brain melting beauties of high end laboratories most mechanics and technicians in the city boasted on their socials. Those pristine– almost clinical– workshops would never compare to the pieces of his best friend's dreams that held together Zero's home. Mark had always thought people underestimated Jeno's passion. But here, he could see it deep set into every crevice of the workshop, giving it a heartbeat.

"Seol, cut that out," Mark pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes. He winced as it put pressure on the edges of a fading bruise on his cheekbone. 

"Mark, I'm afraid I can not 'cut it out' as you say because you are already nine minutes behind schedule," The artificial intelligence that was programmed both into the lab and Mark's suit answered in a female's automated voice. She sounded exactly like the animated superheroes Jeno got moon-eyed over as a kid. 

She was Jeno's first passion project and she was almost always right. 

Mark bolted upright. "Did you say nine minutes?!"

"Ten now, Mark."

 _Smartass_ , he thought to himself, but now wasn't the time to consider how exactly Jeno programmed a personality into their beloved AI. If anything, that question was long overdue, as AIs nowadays mimicked human behavior in an uncanny similarity. Early millenium scientists would have been unsettled. 

Mark, however, was going to be late for the field trip. One ethical dilemma at a time, he decided as he hurriedly undressed and stepped into the bathroom that was spaced only enough for a toilet and a shower stall. He yelped at the spray of cold water that blasted his skin. He was suddenly keenly aware of all the parts of which he ached, not including emotionally, and set about the fastest shower of his life. 

He grabbed a towel from the shelf hanging over the toilet and dried as he went. His phone was buzzing on the counter when he stepped out. His heightened senses enabled him to clearly see the name displayed on screen even as he moved about. 

Jeno. 

He rummaged through a drawer and grabbed a shirt and a hoodie at random. Jeno and him were roughly the same size anyway. Ever since the spiderbite he'd taken to wearing oversized clothing around the apartment to lessen suspicion about his sudden muscle gain. Though he doubted that Ten hadn't noticed it, his uncle was a bloodhound when it came to secrets. 

It's a miracle he's managed to keep Spiderman from him for so long. A guilty pang caused him to stall by the door. 

He shook his head and toed into his sneakers. Ten already had enough things to worry about, a superpowered nephew wasn't going to add more weight to his burdens. Not if Mark could help it. 

He shouldered his backpack after making sure his suit and web shooters were tucked in the inner lining that he'd cut up and stitched a zipper into. Then, as with most brilliant ideas, a thought came to him suddenly. 

"Seol, how many minutes do I got before the bus leaves?" 

"Approximately, thirteen minutes. Your train ride from Kwangya station would take twenty minutes, twenty-two if we consider the waiting time," Seol answered, ridiculously chirper for someone telling him he was doomed. 

Her calculations would be right, he knew, but there was one variable missing. Seol might not have considered that he was still Spiderman even during off hours. 

"You wanna bet on that, Seol?" He grinned and secured his web shooters to his wrists. 

"No, Mark. Jeno has advised that I avoid traversing rhetorical bets with you, as you are–" Seol's ever-present pleasant tone was replaced abruptly by Jeno's dry commentary. "... an idiot whose self preservation died in the same manner–"

Mark didn't get to hear the rest of that as he shut the door behind him and took off running. 

"Mr. Lin!" Mark rounded the bend, sweat slick on his forehead. He probably shouldn't be running this hard considering some people were still well-aware of how he used to nearly pass out over laps during Gym, but he hoped his urgency would thaw his teacher's annoyance and their suspicion. 

Even at a distance, he saw Mr. Lin's shoulders bunch up to his ears. He squinted at Mark's approaching figure, one hand on the door handle of the bus and the other holding a clipboard. Mark skidded to a stop and made a show of bending over on his hands and knees. 

He'd barely ran anyway, web slinging his way through the city, in familiar hidden routes he'd mapped as Spiderman. Mark straightened, "You're never gonna believe what happened–"

"Is that so, Mr. Lee?" His Chemistry teacher looked far from impressed with his performance.

"Yeah," He laughed awkwardly, stuttering over his excuse. "My neighbor was carrying this huge box of… of… cat litter. Yeah, cat litter. Down the stairs, right?" 

A weary sigh, "Right."

"And then his shoelaces were untied so he sorta just crashed and the cat litter went everywhere, Mr. Lin! I had to call an ambulance and do first aid and clean up the cat litter because Mrs. Wang is allergic to fine dust." 

"Mr. Lee," Mr. Lin pinched the bridge of his nose. Mark braced himself, wondering if he'd really done it this time and he'd just barred himself from the field trip.

"Yes, sir?"

"Get on the damn bus."

Mark sighed in relief.

He immediately spotted Jeno in one of the rows, sitting in the aisle, with a brow raised. His smile grew as Mark sheepishly made his way over to him and ambled past his legs into the window seat. He could feel his classmates stares, doubling the red flush that crept onto his cheeks. He resisted the urge to hide behind Jeno. 

Across the aisle, he met Donghyuck's curious gaze. He could only shrug at him. 

"Seol told me you crashed at the lab," Jeno snorted, keeping his voice low. He did a once over of Mark, "Is that my new hoodie?" 

"No idea." He answered truthfully. It looked like any of the abundance of hoodies his best friend owned 

"She sent me a voice alert at ass o'clock in the morning. Why didn't you go home?" 

"My ribs hurt like hell last night. I thought I'd broken something. I couldn't risk passing out when I got back to my room and Ten finding me." 

Jeno's eyes rounded with worry, "You really should take it easy." 

"Pot meet kettle," Mark muttered. 

"That's different," Jeno rolled his eyes. Though Mark begged to differ, Jeno's long queue ran him ragged most nights and it didn't help that Jeno insisted on assisting him during patrols when he had time to spare. 

"He's damn lucky Mr. Lin let him on." 

One of the hardest adjustments for Mark after the maddening sickness post-spiderbite had been having his senses dialled up to eleven. He had felt overcharged most times in the day that he could barely walk through the school halls without inducing a horrid bout of sensory overload. Jeno and him had nearly gotten called to the office for missing multiple classes for an entire week. 

A student had even reported that they were seen hiding out in bathroom stalls and janitor closets together, which wasn't entirely untrue, but no one would have guessed what the actual reason was. There was nothing quite scandalous about it. Mark would vomit all the contents of his stomach on worse days, near tears, refusing Jeno's touch. 

"He's such an arrogant little shit. Thinks he's better than the rest of us, smarter or more capable. I think he's fucking shady." The gravelly voice belonged to Nam Euntaek. He was president of the Decathlon team, secretary of the Student Council, and son of a lawyer for a city bigwig. 

Mark wasn't entirely sure when he had crossed Euntaek's lines. He used to think that someone like him wouldn't be petty enough to hold some kind of grudge over a scholarship, specifically the Jung Corporation grant that was funding Mark and three others at Neo High. However, the more he would overhear Euntaek's venom-laced remarks, the less sure he was. 

He lamented the fact that he'd left the sound blocking headphones Jeno had made for him at home. Next to him, his best friend was humming to a cheery pop song stuck in his head. Mark tried to focus on that. 

"You think that rumour of him sucking someone's dick for the grant was true?" 

Mark sank lower in his seat.

Euntaek laughed harshly. "Man, if I know, guess who started the rumour. Though I wouldn't put it past him." 

"Euntaek."

Donghyuck had stood up from his seat, a knee braced onto the worn leather, leaning over the top to peer at Euntaek and his companion two rows down. Mark's eyes widened and he resisted the urge to lean over and grab him by the back of his leather jacket. He didn't doubt Donghyuck would merely turn his ire on him. 

The chatter dulled, curious. 

"If you weren't so busy sucking up daddy's trust fund and using his sponsor credentials like a free pass to be an asshole, maybe– just maybe, you'd actually earn the achievements you only ever got because of your last name," Donghyuck cocked his head, daring Euntaek to disprove him. He scoffed at the lack of response, "And that's a hard fucking maybe." 

"Lee Donghyuck! Sit down," Mr. Lin called out from the front of the bus. He hadn't appeared to have heard anything else. 

"Mind your business, cyborg freak." 

Someone in the rows gasped. Mark swallowed hard and moved to get up. He wasn't about to let Donghyuck take the heat for him– again. Because he has done this countless times before, even when Mark had asked him to stop, and it was words like cyborg freak that silenced Mark's attempts on stopping him. 

More than anyone, Donghyuck knew what it felt like to be treated like dirt by entitled and privileged kids. People who equated anyone with cybernetics enhancement as objects, whether in jest or disgust, had spat at him with his name at the bottom of their shoes. For years, Mark wished he could do more than divert attention and take a beating. 

"Don't," Donghyuck's head had turned to meet his eye. His sharp gaze pinned him in place but he stared back defiantly. 

_Let me_ , he begged. _I want to protect you too._

More than anyone, Mark had always wanted to protect Donghyuck. It was a selfish thought, not meant for a superhero, but he indulged himself to acknowledge that he was just Mark. Underneath the mask was someone who had lost enough. 

In times he wasn't a superhero, Mark would close his eyes and he could still see the imprint of Donghyuck like a star he'd spent too long watching.

"Save your rotten insults for your dad, Euntaek," Renjun said loudly without opening his eyes. He was leaning back in his seat, arms crossed loosely over his chest, with only the slight furrow in his brow marking his annoyance. 

Euntaek muttered under his breath, the words a garbled mess that even Mark's enhanced hearing couldn't catch. 

But Renjun wasn't done, still with his eyes closed, he said to Donghyuck, "And sit down before you get motion sickness. I don't want your breakfast all over me." 

Donghyuck plopped back into his seat with a heavy thud. The movement jostled Renjun and he finally opened his eyes to glare at his best friend, roughly shoving his shoulder. 

Jeno reached a hand across the aisle, squeezing Donghyuck's arm in thanks. 

Donghyuck grinned at them. Bright, infuriating, and disarming all at once. Mark couldn't look away. 

The rest of the trip went by in typical fashion of a class of high schoolers given time to explore outside of school during school hours. The excitable energy had eased Mark into pointing out spots and alcoves in the town he had found during patrols to Jeno. The city began to crowd the windows the closer they got to the heart of Valentine territory, which housed Jung Corporation in all its glory. 

Mark had seen the skyscraper all his life: in tourist photos, on the eight o’clock news, and across the skyline as he webbed his way through Seoul. He’s reminded of what Jung Corporation stood for and who sat at the top of the glass empire. 

He couldn’t escape his childhood idol if he tried. 

Jung Jaehyun was Seoul’s rebirth. 

“Everyone, make sure to bring only your necessities with you. If you all recall the notice I’d sent everyone through the Neo Portal, security is very strict around here. Please be on your best behavior,” Mr. Lin said, though his reminders were swallowed by the laughter and shrieks of eager students practically jumping out of their skin to unboard the bus. Mr. Lin projected his voice louder, cupping his hand over his mouth, “Single file line in front of the entrance.”

Mark grabbed onto Jeno’s arm out of habit. He felt Jeno take his hand as they squeezed through the crowded aisle. He let go just as they filed into line but Jeno immediately clung to his shoulders, leaning his weight against Mark from behind. “Dude, I can’t wait to see the Millennium Museum.”

“You think we’ll figure out that weird thing from seeing what tech they got here?” 

Mark had almost forgotten about the _weird thing_ , as they’d grown accustomed to calling it. After the fiasco of last summer’s killer sentient automaton robot, he liked to think he’d seen his more than an average share of the extraordinary. The likes of which tried to take the inventor’s intellect of his best friend. 

Except, three weeks ago he was chasing down a perp in the quieter parts of the city– odd enough in itself because who the hell robs a vintage tinker’s shop– when he’d been blasted back by a strong invisible force. It felt like a sonic wave. Blown right off his feet, Mark had shook his head against the dizziness to see the robber jump into what looked like a portal to another dimension.

Jeno, to his credit, hadn’t even doubted him. Outright, at least. Seol, on the other hand, had suggested that Jeno ensure he hadn’t gotten a concussion. As much as he loved her, Seol was a menace with her AI practicality and logic. 

He’d never seen anything like it, that’s for sure. But that’s not to say that someone heading the lightspeed innovation of the nation wouldn’t have. He peered up at the building. 

Morning light glinted off the glass in kaleidoscopes. The tower was only one of the landmarks in the country that marked the Jungs' power. A compound resided upstate that housed bigger laboratories and testing sites for new products and technologies. Field trips were unfortunately not allowed there. 

They enter into the massive lobby, its ceiling reached far above them with elaborate hanging decor that was the same reflective galaxy purple as Jeno's lab. A wide receptionist desk spanned the center with an obsidian wall behind them with the Jung Corporation crest. A diamond shape in glinting gradient techno blues and greens with criss crossing lines that mimicked wires and a sleek serif J cut into the middle, on either side of the letter there was a smaller cross symbol in polished silver. 

A lady in a white lab coat emerged from the receptionists desk, smiling brightly at their group. Her blonde ponytail swung back and forth and her white rimmed smart glasses glinted in the light, "It's my pleasure to welcome you all to Jung Corporation's pioneer center of innovation and connectivity, the Jung Tower." 

They all bowed politely, chorusing their greetings. 

"I can't actually believe this. This is actually insane," He whispered to Jeno. 

"You think if I do a fancy demo by accident, they'll hire me?" Jeno mused.

He elbowed Jeno in jest. 

"We trust that your teachers have already briefed you all on safety protocols while we commence our tour, but just in case, I will once again remind you all. Jung Tower has strict protocol on photography thus please avoid taking photos just anywhere. There are floors such as the museum that you will be allowed to do so," She glanced down at her clipboard. 

"Please refrain from disrupting the employees in the building. If there is anything you need to ask, you may ask me or any of the security positioned by, or your teachers." 

A hand shot up. "Will we be meeting the Jungs?" 

Mark's heart leaped in his chest at the possibility. He tipped his head back, awed by what he could see from the balconies of the upper floors. Many employees in white lab coats like their guide hustled about with people in tailored suits. He didn't know how closely tied their principal was with the Jungs to have bagged this field trip, but he sure was thankful. 

Kids like him could only dream to work here. To change the world. 

"We'll have to see," The tour guide grimaced. His hopes dampened. "The Jungs have quite packed schedules but are informed of your visit today so if we do run into them sometime later, I wouldn't be too surprised." 

"Your school IDs will stand as your identification so please wear it at all times. Oh! Silly me, I'm Kim Hyejin and I'm part of the R&D department. I handle research in the medical subgroup of the department," She bowed politely to the class. When she straightened, Mark noted the ID clipped to her coat pocket. It was holographic, shining with the Jung Corporations color. 

Hyejin led them through security with little fuss. They bypassed the scanners through a manual side gate and truly entered Jung Tower. 

Their first stop was the R&D department, unsurprisingly. Hyejin had chuckled, explaining that field trips at Jung Tower weren't particularly common, thus assigned tour guides didn't have specific routes to follow during them. She had designed their route today, starting with her favorite– best, she claimed too– department. 

Research and Development took up to six floors of the tower. The medicinal and health subgroup took up two floors out of those. 

The department was about what one would expect. The halls consisted of large glass windows that saw into the labs, which made it easy for them to peer over at the wide spanse interactive tables that held holograms and holoscreens of current projects. Jeno was plastered to the windows in excitement. 

Mark slowed his steps to match Jeno's, even as they lagged behind the group. Though he knew this was only the tip of the iceberg, he wouldn't be surprised if Jeno combusted on the spot once they got to the mobility and transport subgroup. 

"Here at JungCorp, research is of utmost priority as it is the beginning of all innovations. It is quite difficult to even get past the first stage of approval for your proposal, but once it does. The team will be able to work with the Design & Prototype department to sort what's possible and what's not." Hyejin waved at a group crowding around a table. They appeared to be watching a soap opera on a large holoscreen. 

"I love that drama," Eric said loudly, making the group laugh.

Hyejin rolled her eyes. "Please excuse my team, we've been working day and night on our proposal and have been going a little off the axis." 

They toured the rest of R&D in similar fashion. There wasn’t much to ogle at as most of what was on display were merely hypotheses and ideas, no nerves to connect them just yet, just strong foundations being built. Nonetheless, Hyejin’s passionate narration was enough for them to know the importance of it all. 

Design & Prototype was an overflow of blueprints and 3D depictions of various proposed projects. 

A small hoverbot that was more skeleton than robot zipped between their legs. It bumped clumsily into sneakers and boots before righting its path. An intern chased after it a beat later, white coat flapping behind him as he politely shouldered his way through the group. 

Through a window, they watched an animated hologram demonstrate a trajectory of a maglev train through a mountain range. Hyejin kindly explained, “JungCorp has been working to enable easier transport for people in harder to reach provinces through an advanced version of maglev trains. They aim to be able to transport goods and resources first and foremost, as older track trains have only been able to reach a certain point before they have to be transported through trucks which are costly in gas.” 

“Wouldn’t it be easier to deliver them through aircrafts?” Mina asked.

“Yes, that would be the easiest solution but most of the communities are deeply grown into the mountains and forests which makes it difficult for aircrafts big enough to carry needed resources to land without damaging the vegetation. We have to consider as well the costs and collaterals that would be involved and ensure that the people receiving them would not be inconvenienced further.” 

The Experiment & Procedure Labs were a cause for wonder. Mark felt the familiar child-like awe he had of Jung Corporations, watching interviews and commercials on television. Johnny had always joked that he used to be close with Jung Jaehyun in high school, Mark had his doubts even at the young gullible age of six but he always kind of wished that he wasn’t just saying it to pull his leg. 

At the head of the group, Hyejin was saying, "We have bigger labs at the compound in Asteroid territory, you may know the compound as WayV or Way of the Vision. Headed by our Executive Director Dong Sicheng, they oversee most of the experimentation and testing that can't be done here and deal with the processing of products to be globally traded." 

“Holy shit, that’s a brand standard pyro-electro drill,” Jeno squeezed his arm, a wide grin on his face. You might as well have dangled a pack of jellies in his face. 

“Two thousand levtrons, uvolian tipped microblades, and a silicone handle grip?” Mark eyed the beauty in the mechanic’s hand. He wasn’t as adept as Jeno was in any science but he could appreciate the flexibility that a pyro-electric drill would have in upping his little inventions. 

Most of the time they were for stuff around the home, to help Ten in any way that he could, but some projects were for fun too. He asked for as little as he could because Ten was already stretched thin most days, but he couldn’t say he hadn’t wished at times to indulge himself. Whenever he and Jeno would go tech-diving at the Wastes for renewable parts, he often found himself crafting ideas in his mind only to fall flat once he realized the expenses and resources he would need for it. 

He could imagine many people have felt the same. Not just about inventing, but about many things in their world. How sometimes the biggest justice was being robbed of opportunity.

In this department, the windows only took up half of the halls and the walls were reinforced from the inside in case of any mishap with the testings. The glass was thicker too, almost no sound coming through. Well, to normal ears, he supposed. Mark could still faintly hear the chatter of a group about multidimensional portals and–

Wait, what?

“No, hold on.” Mark grabbed Jeno’s wrist. 

Jeno’s brows furrowed but he stopped walking. “Mark Tingle?” 

Mark poked his side hard, eliciting a chuckle from the other, “I told you to stop calling it that. No, I think I overheard one of the inventors talking about the weird thing.” 

“Boys, hurry along please. We’re on a schedule,” Mr. Lin called out to them from a little farther down the hall where the rest of their tour group was. 

“I’ll tell him you’ve got an upset stomach or something. I spotted a restroom down right from the elevator,” Jeno said and jogged over to Mr. Lin. 

Mark’s thanks went unheard as he turned, a hand on his stomach for effect, and kept an ear towards the wall. He walked slowly, picking up the conversation. 

“Our most recent test had been successful, but it seems that long exposure in another dimension isn’t physically possible as the atomic structure of a person doesn’t adapt to the atmospheric makeup of the foreign dimension. Marshall’s still on leave from the test but has recovered to full health without further problem,” A woman’s voice briefed. She sounded older than Hyejin and less chirper. 

“That’s good, Amira. I was afraid that some of the files we’d recovered were too damaged to work with but it seems your team has managed to crack the code,” An older man from the sound of it, probably a higher up in the department. Might be a smoker too but Mark couldn’t very well judge, nor was it the time for it. 

“I still don’t understand how Killian had managed to get ahold of such advanced research on black matter technology. It’s absurd especially with what they had stood for.” The disdain was unmistakable. 

The man let out a heavy sigh. “Lee Taeyong is a force to be reckoned with, Amira. The long rift between the Jungs and him goes far past what most of us know, and might never know.” 

“Why’s that, sir?” 

“Well, the Jungs would never speak of it, Taeyong’s on Ryker’s Island, and the only other person that might have truly known where it all began to unravel has passed.” 

“If you don’t mind me asking, sir, who is that fourth person?” 

“You wouldn’t know him,” The man grunted, dismissive. But just as Mark thought the conversation was over, he said, “Seo Johnny.” 

Mark stumbled over his feet. The name was a physical blow, and his nails bit into the walls as he struggled to find something to keep him upright. He sagged against the wall, the name clanging hollowly in his chest, threatening to cleave his heart and spill all the guilt, grief, and longing he’d long sewn shut between the arteries. 

Ten had never wanted to treat Johnny’s name like a ghost. He said his name often, sometimes as if he were still around, and Mark never had the heart to tell him that it throbbed like a fresh bruise every time he did. He had to get used to it after all. It felt dishonorable that he couldn’t even bring himself to say his name even when the grass had grown over his grave and the flowers they left each visit had dried.

His uncle was gone. 

And it was all his fault. 

The last place on Earth Mark would've thought to hear his uncle’s name again was Jung Corporation. He was sure he hadn’t misheard it. There was the possibility that the Johnny they were talking about wasn’t his Johnny but Mark could hear his uncle’s voice echoing in his memories. Clear as day, Seo Johnny sat on their living room couch, telling Mark stories about how he used to party with Jaehyun at Park Chanyeol’s house. Another time, he’d told him the first time Doyoung ever admitted to getting jealous of Jaehyun’s romantic prospects. 

Mark had swatted at him then, pouting. He’d told him off for trying to fool him and claimed he was too old for fairytales. 

“You’ll see one day, kid. I’m telling the truth, you would’ve heard all the Jungs’ dirty secrets from me,” Johnny laughed while ruffling his hair, even as it was sticky with the glue Mark had been using to piece together his latest invention. It was a poor imitation of the JungTech’s first prototype for a hoverboard.

“What dirty secrets are you talking about with our six year old, John?” Ten huffed, a kitchen towel slung over his shoulder and a smear of paint on his jaw that he’d missed before starting on dinner. He sauntered into the living room and sat on the armrest of the couch, next to his uncle, smiling fondly. “You guys are my favorite people, did you know that?” 

“No, I’m pretty sure your favorite people are Christian Dior and Donatella Versace,” Johnny nuzzled his face into Ten’s side, hiding a smile. 

The memory faded into nothing. 

“Mark?” 

His head snapped up and his fist balled on instinct, ready to throw a punch. However, he’s met with Donghyuck’s confused expression. He stood across from him, brows furrowed and lips pulled into a frown, watching him carefully.

“Donghyuck, hey. You scared me.” He forcibly eased his stance, even as his thoughts continued to careen into one another. One wrong collision and he might implode.

“Why are you being weird just standing in the hall?” 

“I was just. . .” Mark trailed off, too frazzled to think of a decent excuse. 

Thankfully, Donghyuck played along, “Right.” 

He hoped that Donghyuck would let it go, like the other many times that he’s caught him in odd situations. All of which he had only gotten past with slippery nonsensical excuses, but each time the younger hadn’t said another word about it. 

This time, however, Donghyuck closed the distance. 

Oh, hell. 

"Does Jeno know?" 

"Know what?" He stalled, praying it wasn't what he thought it was. 

"Whatever it is you're hiding that lands you in alleyways half dressed and bruises on your knuckles?" Donghyuck's eyes had lost any of its soft amber hues. These eyes searched him. 

Mark had half a mind to give him what he wanted.

"It's not as bad as whatever you're thinking," He forced the nonchalance into his voice. 

"Oh?" Donghyuck raised a brow. "Does Jeno know then?"

"Yes."

The ice thawed. "When did you stop trusting me?" 

"When _you_ stopped trusting _me_ with your burdens," Mark said quietly. It was spiteful to use a long scarred over hurt at this time, but Mark was a collection of hurts. Even when he swore it didn't matter. 

"I didn't want you to see who I'd become," Donghyuck stood so close Mark could map the moles on his cheek to his neck. He silenced the urge to touch him, stamped on its taunting flames until it fizzled into ash. 

"I would have looked at you the same."

"So would I." 

The traitorous thought crossed his mind to tell him, to bridge the gap that hollowed the space between their childhood wishes and in the blurred lines of friendship and something unnamed. Maybe then they could fix what had cleaved their hearts long ago, when Donghyuck had torn himself into rough hewn edges and Mark cut corners down to the millimeters. A stubborn spark lit between them.

"Hyuck, I–"

“What is taking the both of you so long?” Mr. Lin’s voice punctured the connection. Mark glanced down the hall, where their teacher stood waiting with his hands on his hips. Even so, he could feel Donghyuck staring at him, his gaze leaving a burning trace that made him feel awake. “Jung Corporation is not the place for you both to be fooling around like this. Especially you, Mark. Get back to the group.” 

They caught up with the group at a different elevator on the opposite end of the hall. A service elevator marked employees only, but Hyejin had cleared them access as it had the fastest access to the next few departments they’d be touring. 

Mark had always known he had a target on his back. Ever since he got his powers and dedicated himself to saving others, he’d left himself at the mercy of criminals and the police. He couldn’t tell anyone who he was– didn’t want to, not even Jeno if he hadn't found out. Most definitely not Donghyuck. 

A few feet away, Donghyuck was back to bickering with Renjun. As if he hadn’t just painted his own target on him moments ago. Right over his heart.

Lunch was uneventful. Much more glamorous than the usual cramped cafeteria at Neo High, Jung Tower boasted a wide floor with various food stalls and a catering service from foreign chefs. The windows crept from floor to the ceiling high above them, silver beams criss crossing in geometric patterns. Despite the enclosed space, the room was airy and Mark could finally breathe. 

He couldn’t escape Euntaek’s typical jeering as they passed his table of cronies from the line. They’d picked a spot far enough away that their group would be deterred to waste their time on them today. 

“Hear anything interesting?” Jeno neatly picked up his taco and took a bite. He didn’t know many people who could eat as dignified as he did, even as a kid Jeno hated leaving a mess. 

“Johnny has something to do with Killian,” He breathed out. He stared down at his own plate of pasta, pushing the food around with his fork. 

Jeno dropped his food back onto his plate. For a moment, he struggled with what to say. Mark watched him from underneath his lashes and felt even worse. Finally he said, “You okay?” 

“Okay?” He huffed an incredulous laugh. “I think it’s insane.” 

“And Killian has something to do with the weird thing. The portal I saw, I think it’s a portal to another dimension. I don’t know what they were trying to do with it but JungCorp has developed it too.” 

“You don’t think that robber works here, do you?” Jeno pushed his food aside, leaning forward, but seemed to think better of it and pulled it back to pick at his nachos. He nodded at Mark’s food as well, a silent reminder to eat. 

Superhuman metabolism and all. 

“I don’t think so. Why would he have to rob anyone at all if he did? He could just get whatever he needed here. It’s all so fucking crazy, I can’t wrap my head around it. How did my uncle get involved in all this?” Mark shook his head. The pasta was still steaming hot and melted decadently on his tongue as he ate. Was everything god-tier in Jung Corporation?

“The night you got bit. It was when Johnny picked you up right? Usually Ten picks you up, but he had an errand out of town and said he would be done just in time,” Jeno frowned, his mind elsewhere as he focused. “But he was late, wasn’t he? You waited hours after dismissal but wouldn’t leave because he promised he’d come. I remember pleading with you to just come home with me.”

“He did come though.” 

“Yeah, and then you got bit in the car. You said he had a bunch of stuff he took from an old friend in the back seat. What if those were stuff from Lee Taeyong? What if he was the old friend he was talking about?” 

“Jeno, are you hearing yourself?” Because he didn’t think he wanted to hear any more himself. 

“It’s just a thought. If Killian had research on multidimensional travel, who’s to say they couldn’t have something on radioactive spiders?” 

He shook his head. There was no way, they were missing too many variables. “I got bit two years ago, Jeno. Taeyong’s been in prison for almost a decade now.” 

Jeno shrugged. 

They finished the rest of lunch without mentioning him again. Somehow dodging the question looming over them. He could read it in the way Jeno tried over and over to breach the topic, only to shy away whenever Mark held his gaze in question. He could feel it in the twitch on his hands, needing to put his restless thoughts into action. He could hear it echoing in the unreal world Jung Tower has built within its glass walls. 

What if Killian had something to do with Johnny’s death?

He didn’t have the time to dwell because not long after Hyejin was calling them back to the elevators for their last stop. 

The Millenium Museum was boasted to be the physical representation of the rise of the Jungs to power and consequently the rebirth of Seoul. There were certain holidays in the year when it would be open to the public, and though it was affordable it was extremely limited. Mark had wished to visit on his tenth birthday but Johnny had surprised him with a trip to Sokcho instead with Jeno’s family. Today, he stood in front of the museum, staring up at the bright techno blue sign that displayed its name in a big block font. 

Stark white greeted them inside the museum, a complete difference to the rest of what they've seen in the Tower so far. The museum was a dome shape that went up to six floors. A circular area in the center was open for programs and seminars. A walled mosaic of Seoul took up the space. 

The mosaic was made up of tech waste, Mark realized upon closer inspection. Glistening pieces of broken glass from older smartphone models, motherboards from computers, and other discarded pieces that Mark often saw at the Wastes. Here, it was art. A symbol. 

"The Millenium Museum is open for viewing to employees from ten to five. We also admit guests such as outsider researchers and visiting delegates to learn more about the history of the Reinvention," Hyejin led them past the mosaic and into a smaller room. 

Here and there, groups of guests leisurely strolled around. Some are led by guides like they were but others were content to silently peruse by themselves. A man in a baseball cap nearly plowed into Mark as he exited the chamber. 

"Rude," Mark muttered. 

And there he was. 

Well, not exactly. Jung Jaehyun's first speech as the CEO of Jung Corporation was playing on a holoscreen in the back of the chamber. His dimples made its charming appearance, likely wooing millions of viewers from all across the country in one single fell swoop, and he shook hands with his father. To the side, his husband Jung Doyoung was smiling from ear to ear. 

And then the moment that had been plastered all over the news and social media for weeks after happened. As if he couldn't quite resist, Jaehyun walked into his husband's arms– no doubt Doyoung only having expected a hug– and kissed him on national television. The crowd cheered both in surprise and delight. Doyoung's shocked face was the butt of many jokes of teens wishing for a Jung Jaehyun in their life. The grin he couldn't quite stop as he hit Jaehyun's shoulder was just the cherry on top. 

South Korea had long abandoned dynasties and empires, though not entirely nepotism, but if there was a royal couple to be named they were it. 

"As you all know, the Reinvention is known as the revolutionary era wherein Jung Jaehyun's grandfather Jung Yoonoh had launched the first use of the world's current renewable powersource: maglevs. It was a time of great struggle as the Earth was rapidly changing with the introduction of new elements to the world after the Storm of Hera. Large meteors had impacted the globe, leaving everyone scrambling to adapt." 

An older clip from the early millenia of Jung Jaehyun's grandfather speaking at a conference about maglev power sources. The depletion of pre-existing fuels were posing a dreadful threat at the time and with the constant shifting in the Earth's atmosphere during the aftershocks of the meteor storm, many were falling prey to dying of the turbulent and harsh weather conditions. The discovery of maglev as a power source had sparked hope. 

But how could you piece together a world that was being ravished? 

Mark eyed a display of awards and plaques honored to Jung Jaehyun on the wall to his right. Unlike his predecessors, Jaehyun wasn't an inventor but a businessman. Most thought that would raise a man to have an iron heart, but he was anything but. 

"Do you remember the science fair?" Jeno asked thoughtfully.

Mark smiled. "We were up all week working on our entries. Ten threatened to disown me if I didn't stop to even shower." 

"You told me you were gonna be even better than Jung Jaehyun," Jeno laughed. 

"That was the alcohol talking," Mark's cheeks flushed from the memory, because he did say that. He had snuck them a bottle of wine from the fridge and drank on the rooftop of their building until the stars forged their dreams into tangible reality. The floor was cold underneath him, but laying next to Jeno with their projects packed and ready for the weekend, he felt invincible. 

The Jungs had set to save their world. Mark didn't understand back then the weariness in his uncle's eyes that sometimes surfaced when he saw the couple at press conferences. 

_With great power comes great responsibility._

As much as the Jungs were responsible for the Reinvention, it didn't negate the fact that the world was still dying. Slower, yes, but its people still cried on the streets for a better world. If the job truly was done, why was Spiderman dedicating his nights into lowering the mounting crime rate?

Mark didn't have the answers. He thought he would hate the Jungs after becoming Spiderman, but it had only fueled him more to gain an audience with them. He needed them to hear their people's voices. 

"You could be." Jeno's sincerity wrapped him in armor stronger than uvolian plates. "I always knew you could." 

He smiled. 

"The museum is interactive and I don't want to shackle you lot to each other so feel free to enjoy the museum at your leisure. Most artifacts and displays are allowed for photography but do watch out for posted signages that may say it is not. Let's meet back at the mosaic in half an hour, alright?" 

The class dispersed into smaller groups. One of the smaller groups consisted of Yangyang and his friends, he waved at them, breaking off from Lucas' hold to approach them. "I heard they have the original maglev block on the top floor," He said, bouncing on his heels. 

"Only you would geek out over a glorified Lego block." His group of friends melded with them. Lucas grinned around the sucker in his mouth. 

Man, a face like that deserved to be displayed alongside the greater creations of the millenium. 

"It's maglev, Yukhei. The first ever," Yangyang deadpanned. 

"We have maglev blocks in the Tech Lab," Lucas raised a brow, missing the point entirely. 

"You're impossible," Yangyang huffed and threw an arm around Jeno. He sighed wistfully and said, "You're the only one that gets me." 

"Half the time," Jeno teased. 

They headed to the upper floors. Jeno and Yangyang volleying back and forth like debate and Decathlon being mixed into one indecipherable language. Lucas, Xiaojun, and Hendery cracked jokes about the artifacts more than anything. Mark settled in between the two, chiming into conversation with the glitches from time to time and leaning into Lucas' selfies when invited. 

A lot of the artifacts were earlier prototypes of maglev engines and medical technology. An interactive map told them that the third floor housed the cybernetics exhibit. 

Rows of skeletal robotic figures filled the halls. None of them looked at all similar to the functioning helper bots that they had now. Most helper bots were stationed in jobs such as security and factory work. It had been an innovation of great contest due to the fact that middle-class workers were alarmed about robots taking their jobs. 

The Jungs should've known then that when they put bandaids on stab wounds blood would only continue to leak through. Killian had made its first statement a few months after the worker strikes. 

"What's in there?" Hendery pointed to a doorway that led to a separate exhibit. Naturally, he didn't read the sign next to the doorway that read prosthetics and medical enhancements. 

They followed him anyway. 

Various limb prosthetics and body braces were on display. Lucas experimentally tried to poke a hologram of a skeleton, only to jump back when the hologram responded to him. A series of information scattered into the space next to the hologram. 

“That’s fucking flash,” Lucas laughed, fiddling with other holograms now.

But Mark's attention was snagged by a display further into the exhibit. Sensory Enhancement Synapses. 

When he was eight and Donghyuck was seven, a bombing had occurred in Valentine Territory orchestrated by Killian. The Jungs were in the talks with the leader of Killian Lee Taeyong in coming together for a compromise to avoid an all out civil war. The uprisings were getting out of hand and every day the city fell closer into chaos' hands. Donghyuck and his dad were in the territory, on their way back home, when the bomb had gone off. 

The day Mark found out Donghyuck had woken up in the hospital unable to hear, he begged Johnny and Ten to let him take sign language classes. He rarely asked them for anything, even on his birthdays, but that was the one time he threw a tantrum of being told no. They didn't have the funds for it at the time. 

He stared down at the first designs for a SES, trying to imagine how it must be like for Donghyuck. He never knew how it truly worked or felt like. Until the spiderbite, that is, but even that probably couldn't compare. 

After his surgery, Donghyuck had grown distant. He was still Mark's friend but he was different. Mark regretted letting him go. 

Goosebumps ran up his arms, a sixth sense thrumming through him. 

"You're here."

Mark whirled around. 

Jung Doyoung stood in front of him with a soft smile on his face. He cleared his throat and stuck out his hand, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm Jung Doyoung."

Mark thought he must have fallen through one of the multidimensional portals on accident because why was Jung Doyoung, COO of Jung Corporation, introducing himself to him?

Doyoung's smile faltered when he continued to stand frozen. "Right. I'm sorry, I thought your uncle might have. . ." He bit his lip and shook his head, as if needing to physically get rid of a thought. 

"Johnny mentioned you," Mark found himself saying. 

"What?" Doyoung's eyes widened. 

"It's easy to say you were friends with the nation's couple, isn't it?" 

"All the bad things, I assume," Doyoung chuckled. "I'm sorry about your uncle, Mark. I'm even more sorry that I couldn't even get over myself to see him off." 

"I feel like only one of those apologies is mine to accept," Mark said.

"You're just like him," Familiar grief laced his tone and Mark knew exactly what he meant. Mark feared to hear it, because it meant Johnny truly was gone. Once more the reality crushed the air from his lungs. 

There were many things he should ask. Yet nothing came. 

The lights flickered. 

Mark's brows furrowed. His gut churned as the instinctual tug begged for his attention once more. For a moment, fear gripped him as he remembered Jeno and the others in the adjacent room. 

"I gotta–" 

Around both of them all the holoscreens accompanying the displays glitched. A grim red motto buried long into many people's nightmares took over the projections. Mark's heart dropped. 

**THE FORGOTTEN ARE CURSED TO REMEMBER**

Lee Taeyong had once painted the streets red with those words. 

"No," Doyoung breathed out. 

There was a pocket of silence before an explosion shook the floor. Doyoung stumbled, legs crashing onto a small bench and sending him to the floor. Soon, a pair of bodyguards rushed into the room, both armed and wary. 

One of them pointed a gun at Mark. 

"Don't! He's not a threat," Doyoung threw a hand out in alarm. 

Mark ran out the room, ignoring the yells of the bodyguard and the COO. 

Jeno and the others were no longer in the adjacent room. The displays had the same motto blinking over and over. He cursed and ducked behind a display of a surgical robot and threw his bag to the floor. Hurriedly, he shed his clothes and pulled on the stretchy fabric of his suit. 

He really ought to talk to Jeno about nanotechnology, even if his best friend found it too tedious, because he was losing precious minutes playing dress up. He hit the emblem in the middle and the suit fit snug around him. He fastened his web shooters last. "Please be okay," He muttered to himself, shoving his backpack into a corner. 

The halls were deserted now, though he could hear a clamor going on in the lower floors. He leaned over the rail, scanning the vicinity for the source of the explosion. 

"The explosion seemed to have occurred on the fourth floor, left wing of the museum, Mark. Would you like for me to calculate the best route to it?" Seol's calm voice inquired. Through the eyes of his mask, a lit up path was already piecing together a quick swing to the floor above. 

The railing was destroyed, debri spilling over the edge and onto the ground floor, likely dangerous to the people still scrambling to leave. Mark hoisted himself over the edge and shot a web onto one of the long vertical hanging decors somehow still intact. He used it as momentum to launch himself right under the rubble. 

The pads of his fingers stuck to the walls and he crawled the rest of the way up. 

Mark stood at the edge of the destruction, frozen. 

Glass covered the marble floors like a second deadly skin, alongside crumbled concrete and stone. The blast had hit the bottom floors as well, creating a crater that collected all the rubble at the bottom. Mark stepped onto something soft, and sucked in a breath at the mangled arm that stuck out underneath a block of one of the posts. He bent down to push the block away. He prayed under his breath. 

"I can't detect a pulse, Mark," Seol said into his ear. 

"I don't care," He grunted and heaved the post off the body. The rest of the body was even worse, most of the man was crushed into himself. Blood soaked up his tan suit and waterfalled over the rest of the debri crowded around his body. 

At least, the paramedics wouldn't have too much trouble retrieving him. 

"Scan for other survivors, Seol. Please," He ordered, carefully making his way through the disaster, mindful of disturbing anything that might send more tumbling. 

"Scanning."

"And check if the upper floors are in danger of collapsing too." 

"I've detected two heat signatures on the third floor and five on the ground floor. Pulse is indefinite. The fifth and sixth floors are unstable, if another disruption occurs they are likely to collapse," Seol reported. Mark was already moving. 

He dropped down to the third floor and ran where Seol directed him. He found a young boy and his mother, a researcher at JungCorp according to her ID, trapped behind a collapsed display. More of the floor fell through as he moved. 

"Mom, wake up. Spiderman's here," The little boy coughed. 

"Yeah, kid. I'm right here," Mark smiled under his mask, forgetting that the little boy couldn't see. He carefully got under the display, pushing it up with his shoulders. It was heavy, but not incredibly so, the problem lay more on the fact that the wall behind them was fractioning from Mark's actions. 

The mother was unconscious, blood seeping from a wound on her brow. The little boy was looking up at him in awe and Mark tried not to wince. He hadn't saved them yet.

"Hey, kid. I'm in need of a cool sidekick right now. Slots open, limited time." He wasn't entirely lying. "All you gotta do for me is hold onto your mom. Protect her head with your arms." 

The little boy nodded furiously and bent over his mom, pulling her face to his chest. "Like this, Spiderman?"

"That's good. Now, close your eyes."

"But how will I–"

"Ah, ah. It's a surprise, sidekick. Close your eyes and on the count of three we're going to go for a quick swing. Trust me, alright?" 

Mark watched the crack creep up the wall. Small sprays of dust rained over the boy and his mother. _Please let this work_ , he thought. 

He crouched down, groaning at the weight of the display that seemed to have doubled and gathered strength into his legs. "One," He breathed, watching the back of the boy's head. 

"Two," He tensed his shoulders. 

"Three." 

Mark threw up the display, its pieces crashing into the wall that had completely splintered at this point. He had only a second to swoop down, grab the mother– cocooning the boy between them– and shoot a web at the nearest wall. He couldn't quite stop to assess where exactly they would land but they swung across the crater and down into the second floor. 

He turned his body as they crashed into a hollow display case. Glass crunched beneath his back, some of it digging into the suit. 

"That was so cool," The little boy whispered, seemingly forgetting for a moment the horror of the past few minutes. 

"Hey! Is that Spiderman?" 

The paramedics and security had already arrived and were sorting through the devastation at the ground floor. Upon spotting him carrying two civilians, their smartest move was to point all their guns at him. "Easy, guys. Got my hands full as you can see. Don't wanna scare my side kick." 

The little boy– angel that he was– poked his head over his mother's shoulder and waved. 

Mark swung down and gently set the mother next to the nearest paramedic. They thankfully ignored him and got to work checking on the mother. 

"Seol, is there anyone else that–"

"I'm sensing odd energy patterns on the sixth floor. Someone is up there using unknown technology." 

A bullet almost grazed his side as he made a run for the mosaic. "Watch it! I'm doing this for free, officer." 

He scaled the mosaic and balanced over the top of it, scanning the walls of the fifth and sixth floor. On the sixth floor, two bridges led to a small circular chamber that held the first maglev block.

"Seol, shift to heat signature vision." The eyes of his mask shift into a different mode and he could see two figures inside the chamber. One of them crumpled on the floor and the other rummaging around. A purple glow emitted from the larger figure, the odd tech Seol was talking about. 

"My database tells me that the second person inside the chamber is identified as one of your classmates." That was impossible, Seol didn't have profiles on anyone that weren't of significance to him or Jeno. His breath hitched.

"Who?" 

"Lee Donghyuck."

Mark couldn't get there fast enough. 

The swung himself onto one of the bridges and warily crept towards the entrance of the chamber. From his standpoint, he could see Donghyuck clutching the side of his head, curled up into a ball against the glass wall of the chamber. Mark had to get him out of there.

"If it isn't my favorite visitor, Spiderman," The figure turned and Mark stilled. 

Nakamoto Yuta grinned at him. 

Lee Taeyong's right hand man had his eyes obscured by a pair of red circular goggles. His long silver hair was tied back and a scar cut through his right cheek. Straps criss crossed over his broad chest to hold the large metal wings folded behind him. Seol had shifted his vision back to normal, yet he couldn't quite believe his eyes.

"You shouldn't be alive." 

Yuta tutted, "So rude, Spiderman. No warm welcomes? I heard you were looking for me in Nuoyi territory a couple weeks ago." 

In all the photos that he'd found of Yuta through Jeno's hacking, he looked entirely different. Black wavy hair, fuller cheeks, and no scar marred his cheek. Seeing him now, he would have thought the last decade had taken its toll on Yuta. That somehow the proclamation of his death during the fall of Killian was a mistake, but Mark knew better.

"Who are you?"

"Me?" Yuta laughed. "I'm your worst Nightmare." 

Then, he held out his arm and a bright purple light beamed from his palm. Mark jumped, just barely missing the blast. But Yuta didn't need time to recharge, he aimed his hand up, following Mark's movements. 

Scorching marks were left in the wake of the purple beam. Mark didn't want to know how strong his suit would hold against that kind of power. He wasn't looking to be barbeque today– or any day for that matter. 

He landed over the roof of the chamber. 

Yuta blasted through the roof, sending glass raining over him and Donghyuck. Mark's heart seized in his chest. 

"Don't get in my way, spiderling." 

He turned away from Mark to grab something from one of the tables. 

Mark jumped down and kicked at Yuta's shoulders, sending him careening back. He shot a web at the wings. The fluid wrapped around the metal but snapped as Yuta extended them to full length. The chamber didn't stand a chance. 

One of the wings barely missed Donghyuck. He was pulling himself up now, eyes unfocused. 

"What the hell are you doing to him?" Mark growled. He usually tried to keep a cool head as Spiderman but he couldn't think every time he saw Donghyuck in pain. 

Sometimes, Mark was just Mark.

"A friend of yours, huh?" Yuta charged towards him, slamming his elbow against Mark's jaw. 

His head snapped back, pain cracking through his skull. He kicked out again to force Yuta back. The next time Yuta took a swing at him, he blocked it and returned one of his own. It landed right on Yuta's cheekbone. 

Yuta went for his gut. 

Mark doubled over, the air whooshing out from his lungs. He was undoubtedly stronger than Yuta, but the man had metal braces covering his hands and it was taking all of his focus to make sure he wouldn't use another blast. He grit his teeth and slammed the top of his head under Yuta's chin. 

"You fucking bastard!" The man roared and clocked Mark across the face. The metal on his knuckles tore through his mask, and he could feel the blood well out from his cheek. 

Feeling vengeful it seems, Yuta grabbed him by the neck and flew up. He heard metal crash against metal but whatever Yuta's wings were made of were apparently as superhuman as Mark was. The top of the chamber bent and eventually splintered under the force of Yuta's wings. 

Mark couldn't breathe. 

"This is beyond you, spiderling. Stick to your petty crimes and goose chasing," He muttered darkly as Mark clawed at his arm. 

Yuta blasted through the roof of the domed museum with the purple beam. Chunks of the ceiling rained down, one of them crashing onto the bridge of the chamber. The chamber tilted to the side. Black spots crowded the edges of Mark's vision. 

"Mark, your oxygen levels are in the red zone. You're going to pass out."

No fucking shit, Seol. 

His eyes dizzied around what he could see of the skeletal suit that wrapped around Yuta's upper body. He couldn't find any obvious weaknesses. Panic crawled up his spine. 

Overhead, a chunk of the ceiling was breaking off. With a shaking hand, Mark aimed a web past Yuta's shoulder. Yuta flinched but mistook it as Mark aiming for his face, "Nice try, spiderling."

With all the strength he had left, he twisted the web taut and yanked his arm back, hard. 

The generous chunk of stone careened towards the both of them. 

Yuta's eyes widened a fraction before it slammed onto his wings, loosening his grip on Mark's neck. Sweet cold air rushed into his lungs and Mark gasped as they both crashed onto the wall. 

He kicked Yuta off and crawled up. 

Yuta righted himself, scowling. He glanced down and saw the wreckage of the chamber. 

He hadn't gotten what he came here for yet. 

He swooped back into the chamber. For a moment, Mark had thought he was here for the maglev block, but of what importance was that? You could find maglev blocks all over the city. 

His answer came when Yuta grabbed Jung Yoonoh's journal. Jaehyun's grandfather had documented everything about his early discoveries into it. 

Truthfully, he had no idea what the hell a dead man walking wanted to do with Jung Yoonoh's journal but he wasn't getting away that easily. 

Mark shook his head to clear the remaining spots in his eyes. His legs felt wobbly as he jumped, he shot a web at the ceiling and roundhouse kicked the villain right in the stomach, "Doesn't feel so good now, right?" 

Yuta growled but was seemingly done with him. He fumbled with something in his belt. A small cube framed in the same metal as his wings. Mark tried to shoot a web at his arm but he’d angled his wings towards him, effectively blocking his shot and rendering the webs useless against that damn metal.

He threw himself forward and crashed onto Yuta's legs. 

"Let go, fucking brat," Yuta kicked out at him but Mark persisted. He pulled himself up. He would pry that journal from Yuta's hands if he had to. 

Almost. 

Yuta's eyes shifted over something below them. "Two can play at that game," He grinned menacingly. Mark's blood chilled as he put the journal between his teeth and aimed his palm at the chamber below where Donghyuck still was. 

_No._

Not him. 

Purple light shot from his fingers and Mark only had the time to watch as it shattered the glass walls of the chamber. Donghyuck squinted up at them, teetering on his feet. "Your friend must be part cyborg or he wouldn't be responding to black matter that way," Yuta said after taking the journal in his hand once more. He freed his other arm from between them and threw the cube up. 

A portal opened up in the open sky above them. The same invisible blast Mark had felt before slammed into him, throwing him off Yuta. The metal wings beat mightily against the wave of power and Yuta shot through the portal with a crazed laugh. Just as he slammed onto the metal floor of the chamber, Mark heard Donghyuck scream as he was sent over the edge. 

The target over his heart took Mark down with him. 

He leaped over the edge without thought. Save him, his heart chanted. 

Donghyuck fell. 

His eyes were wide and pleading. His arms reached for Mark, at a distance that was too far but so near at the same time. Blood seeped down the side of his face from a gash Mark hadn't been able to prevent. 

Mark reached out his arm and shot a web towards him. Desperation clung to his every breath. 

_Please._

Again and again, Mark begged. 

The ground was close now. Too close. 

_"It's too troublesome leaving you alone. You're always up to no good," Donghyuck grinned sideways at him. The wind tickled his honeyed hair._

_Mark sniffed, the remnants of his bloody nose, tingeing the back of his throat, "Not my fault trouble finds me."_

_"Promise we'll always save each other then?" Donghyuck held his pinky out._

_The bruise on his cheek hurt as he smiled. Euntaek and his cronies had done a number on him this time, but he could barely remember how dark it was underneath their feet when he linked his pinky with Donghyuck's._

The web stuck to the middle of Donghyuck's chest. With all his might, Mark pulled him up, until his arm wound securely around Donghyuck and he could feel the younger’s heart hammering in rapid beats that responded to his own. He used his free arm to shoot another web and they swung in a large arc, just barely missing the marble floor. 

Mark snapped the web before they could collide head on with a wall. They rolled and rolled, their bodies taking the brunt of it. But alive. 

Thank Jesus. 

He relaxed as they came onto a stop. All the adrenaline had eaten up his strength. He could still feel Donghyuck's heartbeat against his own, and he willed himself to believe it was true. He would cry in relief if it weren't for the fact that his mask couldn't accommodate for all the snot. 

Donghyuck wheezed, pushing himself up on wobbly arms, "I hope to God you're not dead right now." 

Mark laughed, though it sounded more like a squeak. Embarrassed, he cleared his throat. He forced himself up, wincing at the ache in his– entire body, if he were being honest. 

“Hey, you! Freeze!” 

“Great,” Mark muttered and got to his feet. He glanced at Donghyuck, his guilt adding to his injuries for leaving him in this state, “Are you okay?” 

“No.” He answered bluntly. The shock still likely hasn’t worn off and Mark was also trembling, but Donghyuck wasn’t the superhero here. 

“Get checked with a paramedic soon. Duty calls, pretty boy. See ya,” He saluted and made a break for it. He’d beat himself up for that nickname later. Belatedly, he called over his shoulder, “Or not. Try not to get into life threatening situations next time!” 

The reply was faint, likely said in a whisper, but to Mark’s ears they were a caress, “Thank you.” 

Mark raced out of the museum, searching for the nearest window. They were only about halfway up the building, there had to be one. The clamor of leather boots thundered on the floor behind him. A small cafe was tucked onto the side of the entrance, evacuated after the explosion likely. The glass windows were the kind you could prop open diagonally. It was a tight squeeze but he had to get out of there. 

His spidersense tingled and he dove on his bruised stomach just as a wave of bullets fired where he stood. They hit the windows, shattering the glass. Maybe the pigs were good for something. 

“A thank you would have sufficed!” He waved and launched himself out into the open air. 

Free-falling was a terrifying experience when he first started learning to swing through the city with his webs. For a while, he avoided it. He only let go of one web when he was sure the next one was stuck on, which resulted in many jerky motions and one too many incidents of Spiderman going splat against the side of a building. Letting go of the fear of falling had been the first step of owning up to his new identity. 

The wind did little to carry him but the drop was his friend now. 

Mark shot a web at the nearest building and swung.

Donghyuck was safe. 

His chest loosened as he swung farther and farther from the building. He considered going home, but Ten didn’t have a shoot today and he could easily be caught. The Wastes were too far. 

Exhaustion suddenly weighed on his arms and calves. 

Mark swung himself onto a familiar rooftop. It was an abandoned building that used to do tailoring repairs and t-shirt printing. The lease sign had long been tattered by the weather. 

He stumbled on the first step and crashed onto the floor. With a groan, he flopped onto his back, staring up at the afternoon sky. He winced as he felt something sharp dig into his skin. The glass, right. 

Just five minutes, he swore. His eyelids drooped. 

“Seol?”

“Yes, Mark?” 

“My backpack.”

“I’m on it, Mark.” 

_Seol is sending a message to Handsome Amazing Creator Jeno..._

_Sewn, Seamed, Delivered rooftop. Yuhaenge Street, Sunflower Territory. Vital signs low, but quickly stabilizing. Extra notes, retrieve Mark’s backpack and then retrieve Mark himself._

**MESSAGE RECEIVED**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Ryker's Island** \- prison for highly dangerous criminals and superpowered criminals
> 
>  **black matter** \- rare technology that is said to be the most difficult to work with as the risks outweigh the benefits
> 
>  **levtrons** \- unit of measurement for power of maglevs used in devices
> 
>  **flash** \- common slang to say something is cool 
> 
> thank you for reading i hope you want to explore this further as much as i do. drop by my [twt](https://twitter.com/jenosfae) and let's be friends!


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